By Vishwapati
Patna/Delhi: Former Chief Minister of Bihar Jannayak Karpoori Thakur was conferred with the country’s highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna posthumously on Saturday. A ceremony was organised in the Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi in which 5 personalities from the country received this honour.
President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday conferred Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian honour, on former prime ministers P V Narasimha Rao and Chaudhary Charan Singh, agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan and two-time former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur, posthumously, at a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Today was also a historic day for Bihar. Former CM Karpoori Thakur ‘s son and JD (U) MP Ramnath Thakur received the award from President Droupadi Murmu. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and both Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha also participated in this ceremony.
LJP (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan and other leaders also participated in the event from Patna. Many people, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge were present at this ceremony.
A wave of happiness spread throughout Bihar, after Bharat Ratna was given to Karpoori Thakur. The President’s Office made an announcement to honor Karpoori Thakur with Bharat Ratna on January 23, 2024, a day before his 100th birth anniversary. It was welcomed by PM Narendra Modi himself and other leaders including CM Nitish Kumar. The contribution of Karpoori Thakur is always remembered. All the leaders of the ruling party and opposition have welcomed the decision.
People refer to Karpoori Thakur as a public leader due to his simple lifestyle and uncorrupt political journey. He belonged to the barber community. Karpoori Thakur became the Chief Minister of Bihar twice and Deputy Chief Minister once. He never lost an assembly election in his political career. After the end of the emergency, Karpoori Thakur contested the Lok Sabha elections for the first time from the Samastipur seat in 1977. As a Janata Party candidate, he defeated the Congress candidate by more than 3 lakh votes. The record of winning by the largest margin still remains intact. However, Karpoori Thakur lost the 1984 general elections. Even in the wave of sympathy that arose following the assassination of former PM Indira Gandhi, he had given a tough fight to the Congress candidate.
The author is a senior journalist based in Patna
